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With Moncton Wildcats forward Gabe Smith attending the Utah Mammoth rookie camp ahead of the NHL pre-season, let's throwback to the playoffs and Smith's ascension to QMJHL stardom.
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One Mammoth Post-Season - June 27, 2025 - By Will MacLaren
GROWING UP IN THE town of St. Andrews, N.B., a community with a population of 2,048, Gabe Smith has always embraced having a quiet spot to recharge. These days, he’s appreciating a quiet day of fishing or an evening on the golf course perhaps a little more than usual. That’s because he and his Moncton Wildcats teammates did nothing but make noise over the past few months en route to a QMJHL championship.
The goal was evident from the first day of camp, according to the 18-year-old center. “I think just compared to other years, right from the start, Gardiner (Wildcats coach MacDougall) made it clear that our goal was to win the Gilles-Courteau Trophy,” Smith said. “The way everybody bought it and knew their role, everything was run very professionally and straightforward. It’s the most special year I’ve ever played hockey, largely because of how everyone as a unit bought into what we were trying to do.”
Then there were the full-circle moments Smith bore witness to this season. After all, this is the same guy who, days before being picked by the Wildcats in the second round of the 2022 QMJHL draft, was in the stands, watching and learning, when the Saint John Sea Dogs, coached by his current bench boss in Moncton, captured the Memorial Cup. His current GM is Gardiner MacDougall’s son, Taylor, who previously acted as Smith’s agent. “Being a young kid and so in love with the game of hockey, it was great being around someone like Taylor who had the same interests and motivations,” Smith said. “Being with a person who had that same obsession for the game as me was someone I was going to get along with. We’ve had a great relationship.”
It was a relationship further cemented on the ice of Rimouski’s Sun Life Financial Coliseum on May 19. Smith’s two-goal performance included the eventual cup-clincher in Game 6 of the final. Overall, the third-year QMJHL veteran, best known throughout his junior career for his gritty two-way presence, produced 22 points in 19 post-season games as the Cats captured their first playoff crown in 15 years – and third overall.
Natural progression at the junior level is normal. But the perspective a player of Smith’s age provides when asked to explain his specific breakout – while the Wildcats were winning a club-record 53 games during the season, Smith was posting his first 20-goal campaign – is somewhat novel. “One of the biggest things for a guy like me, being a bigger guy, development gets a bit delayed,” he said. “My first couple years in the league, my skating wasn’t quite up to par. But with the adjustment to the speed of things came a lot of confidence. You realize you can play your game and start bringing offense to the table. Our coaches and my teammates’ support also meant a lot. It all helped me blossom.
“Another thing is that playoff hockey gets very physical. It becomes much more difficult to score. Those tighter, more difficult series is when I played my best hockey. Playoff hockey is my kind of thing. I was thankful to be able to contribute and be part of a great run.”- Gabe Smith
Another group intently focused on Smith’s playoff run were the Utah Mammoth, who drafted Smith 103rd overall in 2024. The artists formerly known as the Hockey Club rewarded his breakthrough with a three-year entry-level contract, which he signed during his return to Rimouski for the 2025 Memorial Cup.
The kid from St. Andrews was in unfamiliar territory after draft day. Then again, so was the NHL. But both have been very satisfied with their earliest impressions of the Beehive State. “After getting drafted, I guess I didn’t know what to expect,” Smith said. “I was admittedly kind of nervous, having never been to Utah or in a situation like that. That said, and I can’t speak for every team in the league, just being around the coaches and staff, it was such a warm and welcoming experience. It was a lot more hands-on than I expected. I’ve gotten close with the development staff. They’re such great people.”
That first taste has left him hungry for more. “Just being there for development camp, you could feel the excitement and energy everyone had,” Smith said. “You could sense the people of Utah were excited. It helps put everyone on the same page to reinforce that goal of building a winning organization.”
Smith can now carry his own winning experience into NHL camp when it rolls around this fall. And the folks of St. Andrews will be following every step of the way. In the meantime, this conquering Cat won’t be above asking the locals for tips when it comes to other matters. “I’ve still got to work on my golf game,” Smith said. Those are the consequences of an extra-long season on the ice.
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